Too Late
by Maja Elisabeth
Summary: It's like we're chasing the last train when we both know it's too late. Stella/Mac - WARNING! Character death


**Okay: I know you all will hate me because of the character death thing, (Sarah aldready does lol)  
Not betaed. The lyrics - James Morrison/Nelly Furtado - Broken Strings  
**

* * *

_"It's like we're chasing the very last train  
When we both know it's too late, too late."  
- James Morrison, Broken Strings  
_

"Ms Bonasera?" A nurse with a white coat called out her name.  
"Yes" she nodded, and hoped that she would tell her more about Mac's current situation.

Just like an ordinary day, they had been called out to a crime scene.  
Mac and Stella had done their work, collected the evidence and were ready to leave.  
It all happened so fast. Mac carried the evidence bags to the black SUV that were parked just around the corner of the crime scene.  
Stella were still at the scene when she heard the shot.  
The shot echoed throughout the whole empty alley, which made the noise develop to something much harder that penetrated her eardrums.

Mac, was the first thought that popped up in her head.  
Where was he?  
Was he shot?

Stella didn't know how or how fast she reached Mac, but it was a matter of seconds when she saw him lying on the ground.  
When she came closer, she saw all the blood pouring out from the wound where the bullet had hit him.  
Mac were curled up like a ball and he pressed his hands against the wound as a weak attempt to stop the blood that was streaming down his hands and soaked colored them red.

"Mr. Taylor is in a very critical condition" the nurse said, and sat down beside her on a green plastic chair in the hall. "We removed the bullet, but he has too much internal injuries. I'm afraid that he doesn't have much time left"  
"What?" Stella gasped, and gasped for breath, like a fish on dry land.  
"But he is awake now and asks for you" the nurse pointed with her index finger at the door where Mac was.  
"Thank you" she swallowed and rose from the chair.

"Mac" she breathed as she entered the room.  
"Hi" he replied with a hoarse voice and tried his best to smile at her.  
"How are you?" she asked, she moved herself towards him, her feet seemed like they were as heavy as stones, and sat down on the edge of his bed.  
"I'm okay"  
"Don't lie" she sniffed and felt how her eyes began to tear up.

His hand cupped her cheek and stroke it tenderly, Stella shivered when she felt his touch.  
Mac watched as she teared up once again, tears spilled over in her eyes, and she tried to wipe them away with her left hand.  
Her right hand was resting on his upper chest, it made her calm to feel his heartbeat through her fingertips, it assured her that he was still alive.  
"Mac you can't leave me" she hiccuped, and stared in his blue eyes.  
"I won't leave you" he assured and put his hand over hers on his chest, and made small circle motions over the top of her hand to sooth her. "I'll always be with you, you know that"

He coughed, and she could see how the pain twisted his face when he did.  
"Do you want some more painkillers?" she asked him, and swallowed as her mouth felt dry, just like the Sahara's desert.  
"No" he whispered with his hoarse throat.  
"I can't do this without you Mac" she sniffled and buried her face in her hands, she didn't want him to see the tears that streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks by now.  
"You can do it Stella" he whispered. "But it might not be as good"  
A shy smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he remembered the day in the locker room when she had said the exactly same thing to her, when he'd admitted that he couldn't do the job without her.

Mac knew how scared she was, and his fear of leaving her behind cut him like a knife in the heart every time he thought about it.  
He wasn't afraid to die – he was afraid of leaving her behind.

Who would look after her when he couldn't?  
Who would comfort her when she's having a bad day?  
Who would make the stars lit up on her sky when he couldn't?  
Who?

He raised his hand to touch her face, and his hand shook as he cupped her cheek once again.  
Mac closed his eyes, and felt Stella's soft skin under his palm.  
For how many times hadn't he dreamed about this moment?  
This was the first time, and the last time at once.  
He bit his lower lip, and felt how his vision began to blur, he didn't know if it was due to the abdominal pain, or the fact seeing Stella so scared and vulnerable.

Stella moved her hand from her face, and placed them atop of his.  
"They got to do something!" she sniffled as he slowly opened his eyes again.  
"They can't fix it this time" Mac replied, and his words cut like a knife through both of them, knowing but without wanting to realize that this will be the end of their time together. "Too much internal injuries" he let out a sigh as he watched Stella's tears slowly made their way down her cheek, down her jaw line and then to drip down on the white cotton blanket that kept him warm.

They sat quiet for a while, just watching each other.  
Stella watched as his chest rose and sank for every breath he took, scared that the following might be his last.  
Mac felt defeated, over powered, nothing he could say or do would save her - save him.  
"Stella" he whispered barely audible because of the pain, both physically and mentally.  
"Mac, if it hurts too much to talk" she blinked away a few tears and caressed his hand gently. "You don't have to; it's okay just like this"  
Stella really tried to be strong for him when he needed it the most, like now, and the time after Claire passed away in the 911 catastrophe.  
She needed to stay strong to keep him calm; his last moments in life wouldn't be filled with anxiety or fear.  
"Stella, I love you" he uttered and took a deep breath. "I'll always do, no matter what"  
Her eyes widened at his revelation, she felt how her heart swelled at least to the twice in size.  
"I love you too" she whispered, hoped it wasn't too late.  
"I'm sorry" he coughed, and closed his eyes.  
Stella watched as his chest rose for the last time, not to rise again.  
A nanosecond everything was quiet, and there after all the machines Mac were hooked up to started to beep.  
It was like in the movies, everything happened in slow motion.  
The nurses came running through the door as fast as they could when they heard the beeping monitors.  
One of them checked his pulse by pressing her index finger against his artery on his neck.  
And then she shook her head and looked over to the other white dressed nurse, and both of them looked back to her with pity in their eyes.

"Time of death 10.27 am" one of them announced and slowly began to remove all the things Mac were hooked up to – now they didn't help him anymore, they wasn't needed anymore.  
Stella stood as frozen to the ground and watched both of the nurses; they did their work as it was an everyday thing.  
Like he was an object with no value anymore, like he wasn't a real person.  
Stella stood there and watched everything around her go by in slow motion, with her hand pressed against her cheek; where his warm hand had been just moments before.  
Where he had touched her skin, so gently, so carefully.  
She could still feel his fingers carefully tracing her jaw line.

* * *

"Mac" she whispered as she entered the empty and quiet room. All the machines that Mac was hooked up to were removed.  
He laid there in his hospital bed where he'd spent his last hour in, Mac's eyes was closed and his face was pale and white just like new fallen snow on a bright winter day.  
It was so quiet, no beeping machines that registered his heartbeat, nothing, it was almost too quiet.

She could hear her own heartbeat in her eardrums, her heart pounded like she would have ran a marathon race, but no, she hadn't done anything – but watching her best friend fade away without being able to rescue him.

Stella walked slowly towards the bed, and she memorized the image of her dead partner, best friend and loved one in front of her.  
An image she would wake up with on her retina, and it will be the last thing she would see before she would fall asleep.  
The sight of Mac, lifeless, dead, pale and cold.

Stella shivered as she touched his cheek.  
"You're so cold" she sniffed, and tried to hold back her tears – the right time for cry might not be now.  
Stella knew he would be cold, but didn't expect this.  
He was cold as ice.

Her warm and smooth lips met his cold and numb ones.  
She'd always wondered what it would be to kiss Mac Taylor, but never had she imagined it would be in these circumstances.  
A thousand times she'd fantasied about their first kiss, it would be magical, sparkling and full of love and trust.  
But now, this was their first and last kiss.  
She wanted him to kiss her back.  
She wanted him to open his eyes and look at her, like in the fairy tales – when a kiss is all that's needed to bring their loved ones back from the dead.

Tears were forming in the corner of her eyes, and Stella couldn't fight the tears anymore.  
She watched as the tears slowly drew a spotted pattern on the white cotton blanket, that were no use anymore, Mac didn't need to be kept warm anymore.  
He didn't need anything of this world anymore.  
"I'm sorry that you can't feel" she said and let the tears burr her vision, and again stroke his cheek timidly.

"Stell, it's time to go now" Don entered the room quietly. He looked over at the bed, where his boss was, and the man he had looked up to, Mac who had guided him through the rough path of life.  
But now, nothing.  
His eyes were red and puffy, and Stella could tell that he had been crying too.  
Stella nodded and let Flack lead her out of the white room; she bit her lower lip and turned around in the door opening to see him a one last time.

_Her partner, her best friend, and her loved one._

* * *

Thanks for reading, and I promise to try to come up with something fluffier next time.  
Please review, and I know I'm evil for killing Mac, so don't hate me.


End file.
